The Mental Game: 5 Ways Meditation Gives Athletes a Competitive Edge
We’ve all seen the research that shows how meditation helps us in our day-to-day lives, but what about high-performance athletes? Can meditation give them a competitive edge?
Actually, yes. In fact, many professional athletes not only meditate regularly, but the use of meditation and mindfulness techniques is becoming increasingly common across many sports at all levels.
In this article, we’re going to look at some of the ways regular meditation can give you a real advantage in whatever sport you play. And if you’re a parent of a young athlete, keep reading, because these benefits apply to kids too.
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1. Improved Focus
Meditation improves focus by strengthening your ability to bring your attention back to the present moment. An athlete who can keep their attention precisely where it needs to be – on the game, and not in their own head – is going to be at a significant advantage.
In fact, the famous “zone” that athletes often describe is a state of complete presence in the current moment. A basketball player in the zone, for example, is not thinking about the shots they missed or the upcoming plays; they are so present that their actions are coming from a state of pure awareness and responsiveness. Meditation is a direct path to training this state.
2. Emotional Regulation
Have you ever lost your cool during a game or practice? Most athletes have. Emotions like anger, frustration, anxiety, and disappointment are common experiences for competitors at all levels, and an athlete who is in the grip of powerful negative emotions will not be performing at their best. When you lose your composure, you lose your edge. Meditation trains the ability to observe your emotions without being swept up in them, improving your ability to find your center quickly in the heat of the game.
3. Faster Recovery
There is growing evidence that regular meditation reduces recovery time for athletes, because it supports the body’s natural healing processes. A 2016 study at the University of Wisconsin found that meditators experienced faster functional recovery than non-meditators after being exposed to bacterial endotoxin. Meditation has been shown to reduce levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which is elevated during high-performance sport and can significantly slow down recovery time when sustained. Regular meditation also improves the quality of sleep, leading to better natural recovery.
4. Resilience
Resilience is one of the most important traits an athlete can have. Because sport involves failure, and the very best athletes fail all the time. The athletes who rise to the top tend to be the ones who bounce back from failure quickly and keep going. Meditation builds resilience because it builds the ability to observe and cope with difficulty without panicking, shutting down, or losing hope.
5. Reduced Anxiety
Performance anxiety, also known as the “yips,” is one of the most difficult challenges athletes face. The “yips” is a case of the nervous system going into overdrive, which tightens the muscles and inhibits athletic performance. Regular meditation has been scientifically proven to significantly reduce anxiety, training the body and mind to stay calm and relaxed during high-pressure situations.
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